spar - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

If you spar with someone, you exchange light blows — either literally by punching each other, or figuratively by exchanging verbal blows.

If you box, you might spar with an opponent at the gym while you're training. You don't strike too hard — it’s just practice. Similarly, if you spar with words, you typically do it playfully and without anger. You might repeatedly spar with your mom about who makes the best meatloaf, but it’s all in good fun. Spar is also the name of a rigging pole, as well as of some light minerals like calcite, that you can cut through.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: spar

1	n v	a stout rounded pole of wood or metal used to support rigging furnish with spars
2	n v	making the motions of attack and defense with the fists and arms; a part of training for a boxer box lightly
3	n	any of various nonmetallic minerals (calcite or feldspar) that are light in color and transparent or translucent and cleavable

FULL DEFINITIONS OF: spar

1

n a stout rounded pole of wood or metal used to support rigging

Types:: show 15 types...; hide 15 types...; boom
any of various more-or-less horizontal spars or poles used to extend the foot of a sail or for handling cargo or in mooring; bowsprit
a spar projecting from the bow of a vessel; dolphin striker, martingale
spar under the bowsprit of a sailboat; gaff
a spar rising aft from a mast to support the head of a quadrilateral fore-and-aft sail; jibboom
a spar that extends the bowsprit; mast
a vertical spar for supporting sails; sprit
a light spar that crosses a fore-and-aft sail diagonally; yard
a long horizontal spar tapered at the end and used to support and spread a square sail or lateen; foremast
the mast nearest the bow in vessels with two or more masts; jigger, jiggermast
any small mast on a sailing vessel; especially the mizzenmast of a yawl; jury mast
a temporary mast to replace one that has broken off; mainmast
the chief mast of a sailing vessel with two or more masts; main yard
yard for a square mainsail; mizen, mizenmast, mizzen, mizzenmast
third mast from the bow in a vessel having three or more masts; the after and shorter mast of a yawl, ketch, or dandy; topmast
the mast next above a lower mast and topmost in a fore-and-aft rig

Type of:: pole
a long (usually round) rod of wood or metal or plastic

v furnish with spars

Type of:: equip, fit, fit out, outfit
provide with (something) usually for a specific purpose

2

n making the motions of attack and defense with the fists and arms; a part of training for a boxer

Synonyms:: sparring

Type of:: boxing, fisticuffs, pugilism
fighting with the fists

v box lightly

Type of:: box
engage in a boxing match

v fight with spurs

“the gamecocks were sparring”

Type of:: contend, fight, struggle
be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight

v fight verbally

“They were sparring all night”

Type of:: argue, contend, debate, fence
have an argument about something

3

n any of various nonmetallic minerals (calcite or feldspar) that are light in color and transparent or translucent and cleavable

Types:: show 8 types...; hide 8 types...; feldspar, felspar
any of a group of hard crystalline minerals that consist of aluminum silicates of potassium or sodium or calcium or barium; calcite
a common mineral consisting of crystallized calcium carbonate; a major constituent of limestone; Mexican onyx, alabaster, onyx marble, oriental alabaster
a hard compact kind of calcite; chalk
a soft whitish calcite; orthoclase
a white or colored monoclinic feldspar; oligoclase, plagioclase
any of a series of triclinic feldspars that form rocks; Iceland spar
a transparent calcite found in Iceland and used in polarizing microscopes; moonstone
a transparent or translucent gemstone with a pearly luster; some specimens are orthoclase feldspar and others are plagioclase feldspar

Type of:: mineral
solid homogeneous inorganic substances occurring in nature having a definite chemical composition